Fresh from losing a multimillion pound local council deal, IT outsourcing outfit Capita has pounced on the man from the Pru.

Prudential said today that it planned to move 3,000 of its staff over to Capita in a cost-cutting exercise that could save the life and pensions provider £60m a year.

Capita said that under the deal, which will be subject to a consultation process and is said to be worth £722m over 15 years, it will administer around seven million life and pensions policies.

If the proposals get the go ahead, around 1,750 Prudential workers in Stirling and Reading, and 1,250 employees based in Mumbai will transfer to Capita next April.

It said that a key part of the Prudential deal would be for Capita to acquire business and assets for a consideration of £25m including the firm's offshore outfit in Mumbai, PPMS.

Capita CEO Paul Pindar said: "We are committed to expansion in both the UK life and pensions market and our Indian operations to meet increasing demand.

"The operations and employees transferring to Capita under this agreement will allow us to take a significant step forward with these ambitions."

Worker's union Unite said it "cautiously" welcomed the proposed deal.

Unite deputy general secretary Graham Goddard said in a statement: "Unite will be pressing for a commitment from Capita of no compulsory redundancies.

"We would envisage that redeployment opportunities and career prospect should be brighter in Capita, which is a growing business."

Just yesterday, Capita confirmed that talks had broken down with the North East Lincolnshire Council because neither side was able to reach a satisfactory agreement on a deal said to be worth £175m. ®